Computer Architecture 2072

Tribhuwan University
Institute of Science and Technology
2072
Bachelor Level / Third Semester / Science
Computer Science and Information Technology ( CSC-201 )
( Computer Architecture )
Full Marks: 80
Pass Marks: 32
Time: 3 hours
Candidates are required to give their answers in their own words as far as practicable.
The figures in the margin indicate full marks.

Long Questions:

Attempt any two questions. (2×10=20)

1. Explain address mapping using pages. A virtual memory system has an address space of 8K words, a memory space of 4K words, and page and block sizes of 1K words The following page reference changes occur during a given time interval. (Only page changes are listed. If the same page is referenced again, it is not listed twice).

                                    4 2 0 1 2 6 1 4 0 1 0 2 3 5 7

Determine the four pages that are resident in main memory after each page reference change if the replacement algorithm used is (a) FIFO (b) LRU

10 marks view

Address Mapping Using Pages

A physical memory is broken down into groups of equal size called blocks or page frame and the groups of address space of the same size as block is called pages.

Consider a computer a with address space =8K and memory space=4K


Virtual address has 13 bits. Since each page consists of 210=1024 words, high-order 3 bits will specify one of 8 pages and low-order 10 bits gives the line address within the pages.

In computer 2p words per page, p bits are used to specify a line address and remaining high-order bits of the virtual address specify the page number and an address for the memory page table. Line address in memory space and address space is same; only mapping required is from page number to a block number.


The memory page table consists of 8 words, one for each page. The address in the page table denotes page number and the content of word gives the block number where the page is stored in main memory.

Presence bit when 0 indicates page is not available in main memory and when 1 indicates that page has been transferred to main memory. Table shows that pages 1, 2, 5 & 6 are now available in main memory in blocks 3, 0, 1 & 2 respectively.

Second Part


2. Why do computers need input-output interface? Explain the sequence of operations carried out during CPU-IOP communication with the help of suitable flowchart.

10 marks view

3. What is a microprogram sequencer? With block diagram, explain the working of microprogram sequencer.

10 marks view

Short Questions:

Answer any ten questions: (10x6=60)

4. Differentiate between address space and memory space. An address space is specified 2 bits and the corresponding memory space by 16 bits. If a page consists of 2K words, how many pages and blocks are there in the system?

6 marks view

Difference between address space and memory space

An address used by programmer is a virtual address and the set of such addresses is the address space. Thus the address space is the set of addresses generated by the programs as they reference instructions and data. Generally, the address space is larger than the memory space.

An address in main memory is called a location or physical address. The set of such locations is called the memory space. The memory space consists of actual main memory locations directly addressable for processing. Generally, the memory space is smaller than the address space.

Second Part:


5. What do you mean by interrupt? Draw and explain the flowchart for interrupt cycle.

6 marks view

6. Explain with an example, how effective address is calculated in different types of addressing modes.

6 marks view

7. What the difference is between isolated and memory mapped I/O? What are the different types of I/O commands.

6 marks view

8. Show the memory organization (1024 bytes) of a compute with four 128x8 RAM Chips and 512x8 ROM Chip. How many address lines are required to access memory?

6 marks view

9. Show the step-by-step multiplication process using booth’s algorithm, when +14 is multiplied by -14. Assume 5-bit registers that hold signed numbers.

6 marks view

10. Briefly explain fixed-point representation of numbers. What is the signed magnitude, 1’s complement and 2’s complement of -9?

6 marks view

11. Explain about the basic computer instruction format. When instruction set is said to be complete.

6 marks view

12. Explain Overlapped register windows with suitable example.

6 marks view

13. Example the process of overflow detection with both signed and unsigned numbers.

6 marks view

14. Define selective-set, selective-complement, selective-clear, mask, insert and clear operation with an example.

6 marks view

15. Write short notes on the following.

a) Integer representation

b) Subroutines

6 marks view